poo tube creeps out the wife

March 10, 2008 12:38 PM

Does anyone have a Cat Genie? It sounds like a great solution, except for the tube of liquified cat poo that dumps into your toilet bowl (?).

We currently use a litter robot... and it's pretty good. Keeps the smell mostly under control and easy as changing a trash bag.

I like the idea of having a litterbox in the bathroom that I'd never have to worry about again... but the cat genie doesnt seem quite ideal. Do you really come home to a toilet full of unflushed cat waste? Is it really that bad ( i was thinking I could make a habit of keeping the lid closed and flushing when I first got home). I know it connects to a laundry waste line too, but thats not an option for me.

posted by muscat to pets & animals (5 comments total)

Being a coastal California resident, I'd be wary of dumping cat feces into the sewage system.

It's gotten some mixed reviews over at Amazon, the most common complaint being when the unit clogs, you have to traverse the Pool of Liquified Cat Feces in order to fix it. The second most common complaint is that when the unit misses picking up a solid, it fills your house with the scent of baking cat shit. (!)

/sticking to my Litter Robot for now. P.S. sprinkle a layer of baking soda into the plastic bag after you've put it in the LR drawer. Completely kills any residual odor.
posted by jamaro at 12:58 PM on March 10, 2008

It's also hellishly expensive. According to the website, it costs $329, and if you have one cat, you'd need a new cartridge every 8 weeks at $14.99, so another $100 or so a year. Two cats, it'd be another $200 a year.
posted by essexjan at 1:07 PM on March 10, 2008

Please, no cat poop in the toilet. It carries toxoplasmosis, which has been determined to cause sea otter deaths. Now, that study doesn't confirm that otters get it from (treated) sewage runoff - there seems to be a link between freshwater runoff areas (streams, rivers) and sea otter deaths - but given the number of raw sewage spills the Bay has had this winter, it wouldn't be a surprise if there's a link there, as well.
posted by rtha at 1:36 PM on March 10, 2008

A friend bought the Cat Genie to supplement the litter boxes she has in her house when her mom moved in with her four cats (+ friend's 5 cats = bedlam) and really likes it. She's pretty fastidious and says that she hasn't had to clean up or mess with ickiness at all with the Cat Genie- everything works fine, and she says the, uh, debris left in the bowl is no worse than coming into a room and finding another human forgot to flush.

She just leaves the lid down and flushes before opening it all up.

Not to derail, fellow Californian coastal dwellers who have Litter Robots, but any suggestions/advice on the Litter Robot level? I was planning to get a Cat Genie when my tax refund came in, but jamaro's post convinced me otherwise. Do you recommend them? And how do you get these derail comments to show up in smaller font!! /derail
posted by arnicae at 1:38 PM on March 10, 2008

Well I'm feeling better about my little darth R2D2! Sounds like the genie is a risk.

The L.R. is great if you stay on top of it! Let that tray overflow and you are just screwed.

Thanks for the input!
posted by muscat at 1:45 PM on March 10, 2008